Economy
AU Stresses Need to Boost African Investments
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The African Union (AU) Executive Council has emphasised the need for the continent to boost investment in Africa’s youth by promoting transformative and inclusive development agendas aimed at recognising the efforts by the youth in entrepreneurship and innovation.
This was stated during the opening of the 30th Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council on Wednesday at the AU Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the theme: “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth”.
The opening ceremony was attended by a high level gathering that included: Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma AUC Chairperson, AU Ministers of Foreign Affairs, AU Commissioners, Dr Abdullah Hamok, acting Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), officials and invited guests.
Addressing the distinguished delegates at the opening ceremony, Mrs Zuma said that for Africa to succeed in its integrated and inclusive development agenda“ it requires that we revive and strengthen the spirit of Pan Africanism, unity and solidarity to successfully steer our way towards agenda 2063”.
To meet the first target in Agenda 2063 of commencing the Continental Free Trade Area by the end of 2017, Mrs Zuma stressed on the need to unlock the potential, the energy, the creativity and the talent of Africa’s young men and women.
She said that this can be achieved only through the African Skills revolution, by creating jobs and economic opportunities, through diversification, agricultural modernisation and industrialisation so that Africa’s youth can be the drivers of agenda 2063.
Dr Dlamini concluded her remarks by saying “whatever we do at this summit, we must ensure that we preserve the precious and principled unity of this continent and our union”.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Republic of Chad and Chair of the Executive Council Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat in his opening remarks noted that the 30th Executive council is being held on the back drop of significant changes happening at the African Union commission such as the AU reforms requested by Heads of States in Kigali and the pending AU elections which will be important for the organisation moving forward in meeting its obligations to the citizens of Africa.
The Minister commended the Excellent leadership of the AUC Chairperson and her Commission on championing Africa’s development agenda through the promotion of Agenda 2063. He ended his speech by officially declaring the 30th executive council open. (See complete speech of the Minister on the AU Website: www.AU.int)
Dr. Abdullah Hamok, Acting Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), in his opening remarks noted that unlike other regions of the world, the proportion of youth in Africa’s total population was rising and this growth presented great opportunities as relates to the continent’s demographic dividend as well as challenges derived from the risks associated with soaring rates of youth unemployment.
The Executive Council meeting is the second of three statutory meetings to be held under the on-going 28th Summit of the African Union, holding from 22-31 January 2017. The first meeting was that of the Permanent Representatives Committee which was held from 22 to 24 January. The final meeting of the summit will be that of the Heads of State and Government to take place from 30-31 January.
For three days, the Ministers of External Affairs and other ministers or authorities designated by the governments of AU Member States will deliberate on the different reports of the Specialized Technical Committee (STCs) ministerial meetings organised by the AU Commission during the last six months. They will also adopt the report of the Permanent Representatives Committee.
The Executive Council will prepare the agenda of the AU Summit with appropriate recommendations for consideration by the Heads of State scheduled to take place from 30-31 January 2017.
The meeting of the Executive Council will officially end on Thursday 26th January 2017.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Energy stocks influenced the 4.76 per cent loss recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, December 5.
The culprits were the duo of 11 Plc and Nipco Plc,with the former shedding N32.17 to end at N291.83 per share compared with the previous day’s N324.00 per share, and the latter down by N21.00 to sell at N195.00 per unit versus the previous session’s N216.00 per unit.
Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slumped by 170.16 points to 3,401.37 points from 3,571.53 points and the market capitalisation lost N101.81 billion to close at N2.035 billion from the N2.136 trillion quoted in the preceding session.
The OTC securities exchange suffered the decline yesterday despite the share prices of three companies closing green.
Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was up by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share compared with Thursday’s price of N38.00 per share, Air Liquide Plc appreciated by N1.09 to N11.99 per unit from N10.90 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 78 Kobo to N56.57 per share from N55.79 per share.
During the session, the volume of transactions rose by 6,885.3 per cent to 18.2 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of transactions ballooned by 10,301.7 per cent to N389.7 million from N347.2 million, but the number of deals declined by 29.7 per cent to 26 deals from 37 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units valued at N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units worth N4.2 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units worth N524.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated further against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, December 5, as FX demand pressure mounts.
The Nigerian currency lost N2.60 or 0.18 per cent against the greenback to close at N1,450.43/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.83/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling in the official forex market during the session by N4.48 to trade at N1,935.45/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,930.97/£1 and shrank against the Euro by 43 Kobo to end at N1,689.17/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,688.74/€1.
Similarly, the local currency performed badly against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to close at N1,455/$1 versus Thursday’s N1,453/$1 but traded flat at the parallel market at N14.65/$1.
As the country gets into the festive period, pressure mounted on the local currency reflecting higher foreign payments and lower FX inflows.
However, there are expectations that the Nigerian currency will be stable, supported by interventions by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the face of steady dollar Demand and inflows from Detty December festivities that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450/$1 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
As for the crypto market, it was down yesterday due to profit-taking associated with year-end trading. However, the December 1-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation by the University of Michigan fell to 4.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent previously and 4.5 per cent expected. The 5-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously and 3.4 per cent expected.
With the dearth of official economic data of late, these private surveys have taken on a new level of significance and the market banks of them to make decisions.
Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.4142, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.1 per cent to $0.1394, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3.9 per cent to $3,039.75, Solana (SOL) declined by 3.8 per cent to $133.24, and Litecoin (LTC) fell by 3.7 per cent to $80.59.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $89,683.72, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $883.59, and Ripple (XRP) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $2.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The oil market was up on Friday on increasing expectations the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week, which could boost economic growth and energy demand.
Brent futures rose by 49 cents or 0.8 per cent to $63.75 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures expanded by 41 cents or 0.7 per cent to $60.08 per barrel.
Investors digested a US inflation report and recalibrated expectations for the Federal Reserve to reduce rates at its December 9-10 meeting.
US consumer spending increased moderately in September after three straight months of solid gains, suggesting a loss of momentum in the economy at the end of the third quarter as a lackluster labor market and the rising cost of living curbed demand.
Traders have been pricing in an 87 per cent chance that the US central bank will lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points next week, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
Investors also focused on news from Russia and Venezuela to determine whether oil supplies from the two sanctioned members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) will increase or decrease in the future.
The failure of US talks in Moscow to achieve any significant breakthrough over the war in Ukraine has helped to boost oil prices so far this week.
A loss of Venezuelan oil production in case of a US military intervention will materially impact global benchmark prices as the market will have to replace Venezuela’s heavy crude.
Venezuela is estimated to pump about 1.1 million barrels per day of crude oil at present, so if the US-Venezuela tension escalation into an invasion in the South American country, this volume of crude would be at risk.
Reuters reported that the Group of Seven countries and the European Union are in talks to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a full maritime services ban in a bid to reduce the oil revenue that helps finance Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Any deal that could lift sanctions on Russia, the world’s second-biggest crude producer after the US, could increase the amount of oil available to global markets, weakening prices.
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